Raising Capital For Dummies [Paperback]

Joseph W. Bartlett (Author), Peter Economy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 2002

While raising capital has never been easy, it has become a lot more difficult over the past few years. The dot-com debacle has made investors skittish, especially when it comes to financing early-stage start-ups. As a result, more and more entrepreneurs are being forced to compete harder and harder for a spot around the money well. At the end of the day, all most have to show for their efforts are tattered Rolodexes and battered egos. What they need is the competitive edge that comes with having a friend in the business–an advisor who’ll cut through the mumbo-jumbo and tell them in plain English how to get the money they need. What they need is Raising Capital For Dummies.

Whether you’re just starting your business and need a little seed capital to launch your first product, or you’re looking for a little help expanding an established business into a new market, this friendly guide helps you get the financing you need to realize your dreams. You’ll discover how to:

• Tap personal sources of financing, as well as family and friends
• Approach customers and vendors for financing
• Hook up with commercial lenders
• Find angel investors 
• Get an SBA loan
• Raise cash through private equity offerings
• Woo and win investment bankers and venture capitalists

Venture capital guru, Joseph Bartlett explains in plain English the capital-raising strategies and techniques used by some of today’s most successful businesses, including tried-and-true methods for:

• Assessing your financial needs and creating a solid financial plan
• Researching sources of financing and making first contact
• Finding, contacting, and convincing angels
• Getting your customers to finance your company
• Understanding and exploiting matching services
• Exploring commercial banks, savings institutions, credit unions, finance companies, and the SBA
• Qualifying for a loan
• Working with placement agents
• Raising cash through IPOs and mergers

From raising seed capital and funds for expansion to IPOs and acquisitions, Raising Capital For Dummies shows you how to get the money you need to survive and thrive in today’s winner-take-all marketplace.

Editorial Reviews

Review

First there was "Dating for Dummies," then "Indoor Grilling for Dummies " and now ... "Raising Capital for Dummies."
The newest how-to book for novices from Wiley Publishing Inc., the publishers of the popular "Dummies" series, comes at what could be a wickedly good time. With venture capitalists retrenching and so-called angel investors burned by the dot-com meltdown, fund-raising has become a tough task for venture capitalists.
"There's a lot of places to look for money that just doesn't occur to people," said Joseph Bartlett, co-author of the "Raising Capital for Dummies " book.
Offering advice from finding government resources to tapping friends and family members for cash without causing feuds, the Dummies guide walks business execs from the "embryo to the IPO" stages of a company's cash needs, says Mr. Bartlett.
If all else fails and a fund-raising effort comes up short, there's another guide that might be worth checking out: "Job Hunting for Dummies. (The Wall Street Journal, September 6, 2002)

From the Back Cover

"An easy-to-use primer for first-time entrepreneurs." ?Andrew Ziolkowski, Managing Director, Forest Street and SAE

Great advice from the guru of venture capital and start-up financing

The fun and easy way to get the funding you need to realize your dreams!

Rarin? to start your business but strapped for cash? Relax! This savvy guide cuts through the mumbo-jumbo and leads you through the stages of financing your business ? from raising seed capital and funds for expansions to IPOs and acquisitions ? and shows you how to survive and thrive. So take the money and run!

The Dummies Way

• Explanations in plain English
• "Get in, get out" information
• Icons and other navigational aids
• Tear-out cheat sheet
• Top ten lists
• A dash of humor and fun

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (August 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764553534
• ISBN-13: 978-0764553530
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 9.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #557,472 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too broad for its target audience, November 12, 2007

By 

Eric P. Larue (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Raising Capital For Dummies (Paperback)

The problem with this book is it really only spends the first third of the book addressing the stage that anyone who buys this book is going to be interested in-startup. If you've been in business long enough to be ready for venture capital, you can probably hire a consultant to help you navigate that, and if you're to the point where you're ready for a merger, by that point you're hardly a "dummy."

And even then, it really only scratches the surface of what a start-up entrepreneur needs. Using personal resources and asking family and friends are so self-explanatory that they don't even need their own chapters. Angel investors are really the only section it has any info about, but then again, not much on how to really get their attention, and then customers and matching services are worthwhile only if you're in a position where that applies(i.e. you don't need to go through a production process before you can give the customer what they want)

I would rather they cut out the chapters on using personal resources and family and friends entirely, as well as eliminating sections 2 and 3, and expand the remaining chapters to the length the book is now.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars For the Naive, October 29, 2007

By 

K. Findlay - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Raising Capital For Dummies (Paperback)

This book is filled with ideas for those who have never tried to raise capital before. But if you have worked at this before this book has nothing to add to what you have already tried. You need friends with money and influence to raise capital, anything else is climbing a ladder leaning against the wrong wall.